Former CIA director John Brennan, whose security clearance you revoked on Wednesday, is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him.

Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.

For the record, the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes — no Trump fan by any stretch of the imagination — isn’t falling for McRaven’s effort to canonize Brennan:

Brennan is an incredible hack. He's been caught lying repeatedly. He routinely politicized intelligence. He sought to silence dissenting intel voices. Whatever you think about Trump's decision, it's a mistake to lionize a political hack. https://t.co/E3lBzGv4AK

In 2012, six months before the election, Brennan gave a speech claiming that Obama's policy would lead to the "demise" of al Qaeda within a decade. It was an absurd argument at the time — more absurd today.https://t.co/m4eQGVmzQ0

Don't like Trump's decision to revoke Brennan's security clearance? Fine. I don't either. It was vindictive and petty. But don't pretend Brennan was a disinterested, apolitical IC leader. He wasn't. He was a hack then — and he's a hack now.

Guess the truth about Brennan is just a little too inconvenient for people like former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, who, rather than mount a convincing rebuttal to Hayes, launched into a personal attack:

Let’s see, who to believe: a Fox pundit, or the decorated Special Ops commander who led the bin Laden raid? https://t.co/QOi7eqIdeY

The only thing that’s revealing, Dan, is that guys like you and Jon think you’ve owned Hayes.

Nope, it's perfectly used there by @stephenfhayes because @jonfavs leveled his attack at the person (in this case one of his titles) rather than his position. Often wrongly conflated with meaning a straight-up insult. Also funny is that Hayes/TWS are highly skeptical of Trump